Jansen’s Struggles Continue as Dodgers Drop Heartbreaker In Extras

The reigning National League champs headed back to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks for the first time since the National League Division Series last October.  The Dodgers, riding back-to-back wins against the Giants, looked to continue their momentum and gain an early division lead currently held by Arizona.

With Chris Taylor receiving the “night off,” Joc Pederson batted first and quickly got the Dodgers going with a lead-off double.  The spark grew into a flame as Corey Seager singled him in to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.  Two batters later, Yasmani Grandal blasted a two-run homer to right-center field extending the Dodgers lead, 3-0, in the first inning.

Hyun-Jin Ryu took the mound in the bottom half of the inning and quickly got two ground ball outs but, unfortunately, followed by giving up back-to-back doubles to Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock cutting the Dodgers lead to 3-1.  With one out in the third, Ketel Marte tripled which was then followed by a walk to Goldschmidt.  After striking out Pollock, Ryu then issued a walk to Chris Owings to load the bases and another walk on four straight balls to Jake Lamb making it 3-2.   The Diamondbacks would then tie things up in the fourth with a two-out single by David Peralta followed by another triple by Ketel Marte that would knock Ryu out of the game.

The 3-3 tie did not last long as Logan Forsythe crushed a one-out solo home run to deep left-center field in the sixth inning to put the Dodgers back on top 4-3.  The next inning, the Dodgers tacked on one more with a two-out double by Grandal followed by an RBI single by Cody Bellinger.   In the 8th, the Boys in Blue came up with yet another two-out rally that began with a pinch hit single by Chris Taylor.  With Pederson at the dish, D-backs pitcher, T.J. McFarland, threw a “not-so-wild” pitch that allowed Taylor to “advance” to second.  With the count full, Pederson roped a ground ball to left field scoring Taylor and extending the Dodgers lead to 6-3.

After failing to score with bases loaded in the top half of the frame, Dodgers’ closer Kenley Jansen entered the bottom of the ninth with a three-run lead and quickly retired the first two batters he faced.  With two outs, Jansen walked Goldschmidt and Pollock (the 8th and 9th walks issued by Dodgers’ pitchers), both of which were on 3-2 counts.  Chris Owings was up next and turned on a first pitch cutter, tying the game 6-6 with a three-run homer that would send the game into extras.

Both teams failed to score in the 10th inning as well as the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings.  It wasn’t until the 15th inning that the tie was broken which began with a one-out infield hit by Bellinger.  Wilmer Font, the Dodgers remaining relief pitcher came up next for his second at bat of the evening.  You heard that right, his second at bat.  With two strikes, Font was able to lay down a sacrifice bunt to advance Bellinger to second base.  Chase Utley then came to the plate and lined a base hit into left field as Bellinger barely beat out the tag at home plate to put the Dodgers ahead 7-6.

It was then up to Font to finish the game in his fifth inning of relief and only a one-run lead.  Font quickly struck out Owings but then gave up a base hit to Jake Lamb followed by a double by Nick Ahmed that would score Lamb and tie the game once again at 7-7.  Jeff Mathis then came in to pinch hit and promptly lined one into the gap as the Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers 8-7 in 15 innings after 5 hours and 46 minutes of play – the longest Dodger game since June of 2016 and the longest game in Chase Field history.

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